Waterproofing fibers and fabrics.



T 0 all whom it may concemt' UNITED STATES PATENT oFFro THOMAS A.EDISON, O'F LLEWELLYN PARK, 0

RANGE, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO NORTH JERSEY PAINT COMPANY, OFSTEWARTSVILLE, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF. NEW

JERSEY.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented-Jan. 12, 1909.

Application filed June 1, 1908. Serial No. 436,104.

Bait known that I, THOMAS ALVA EDISON, a c1t1zen of the United States,residing at Llewellyn Park, Orange, county of Essex,

and State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and usefulImprovements for Waterproofing Fibers andl abrics, of which thefollowing is a description.

My invention relates to waterproofing fibers and fabrics and to animproved method of rendering fibers and fabrics waterproof which ischeap and extremely efficacious.

While materials treated according to my invention may of course beusedfor any purpose for which waterproof fibers and abrics areavailable, the particular use which I contemplate therefor is thewaterproofing of bags for containing ground Portand cement so as toprotect the cement contained therein from moisture. A

The material which I 'use for the treat-.

ment of fibers orfabrics to render them waterproof is thepetroleumresiduum known in the petroleum trade as B. S. This residuumsettles in the tanks which are used for containing crude petroleum andis solid at ordinary temperatures. I have secured very 1s to be shippedon a .protracted sea voyage,

good results by merely melting the B. S. and adding a little benzin orother solvent to. thin it somewhat; then immersing the bag or otherobject to be water roofed therein. The canvas bags used for oldingcement, when thus treated, after having been allowed to dry will answervery well for containing cement under any ordinary conditions. I Wherethe waterprbofe'd fabric is to .be.

subjected to harder usage and its waterproof 'qualities' must be made asperfect as ossible, as for example, when the cement I make the agsubstantially perfectly water- ,proof in the following manner: I firstdiesolve the B, S. in a solvent, preferably warm; this solvent ispreferably petroleum benzin, although other solvents as, for example,benzol or turpentine may-be used.

I then allow it to cooland remain quiescent,

' until the insoluble portion settles at the bottom; or, it ma befiltered for the same pur ose. The so ution isthen drawn off and thesolvent isdistilled off until a point is reached where the residue ispasty or,

.onto acement fioor untilthe standard bags semi-solid. This material isthen melted, preferably by means of steam coils at a temperature above212 degrees 1*. when it becomes substantially as limpid as water.

The fibrous object to be treated, as for ex-' ample, the bag'forcontaining cement, is immersed in the waterproofing agent so prepareduntil the water'of the fiber has been driven off. The bag, when cooledand dried, is ready for use. dered more perfectly water roof than whentreated with the B. S. wit out the portion thereof which is insoluble inpetroleum benzin or equivalent solvent having 'been removed. Thisinsoluble portion is practically without waterproofing qualities andacts merely as an adulterant of the waterproofing material. Its use,however, is permissible in all cases except when extraodinarywaterproofing qualities are required to be imparted to the fiber.I

- hen bags are treated in either of the manners described above, theyare rendered very flexible and will not crack before being Worn out, thestrength of the bag is greatly increased by the treatment and a bag sotreated is of very great utility for containing any material verysensitive to moisture, such as Portland cement.

@ The fact that bags treated in the manner here described are renderedmore flexible and are given greater strength by the treatment than theywould otherwise'possess is shown by a series of exhaustive testsconducted on both treated and untreated bags. These test consisted infilling the bag with 95 pounds of cement and drop ing it 7 feet agbroke. A great number of'tests, on a large number of ment, have'shownthat in the case of the bags treated with the B. S. 25% drops wererequired to rupture the average bag, where- The bag so treated is lienintendedfor carrying ce-.

as in the case of untreated bags the average number of drops per bagbefore breaking was only 4.

Having now described ,my invention, I claim: I

1. Fiber impregnated with the petroleum residue known as B. Si,substantially as set forth. I

2. As a new article of manufacture, abag waterproofed by impregnating itwith the.

tially as set forth." this 27th day of May 1908;

3. Fiber impregnated with the portion of the etroleum residue known asB. S. which v 5 .isso uble' in petroleum benzin and'free from Witnesses:

the insoluble portion'thereof,. substantially FRANK L .'DYER, 7 as setforth. v ANNA R. KLEHM;

THOS. A-. EDISON.

petroleum residue known BL S.,' silbgtiin- I This specification signedend witnessed V

